Scientific texts dedicated to Viktor Petrov’s personal participation in numerous archaeological excavations in Kyiv, as well as thematic materials from historiography and sources, are organized in his personal fund in 30 archival files: No. 150-152, 154-158, 160-176, 182, 270-273. These files contain almost 4,500 handwritten and typewritten documents compiled by Petrov, manuscripts of other scientists, fragments of various printed texts, as well as valuable drawings, maps, and photographs of archaeological monuments. Most of the documents are unpublished manuscripts that have not been introduced into scientific circulation.

A very important part of the materials collected by Viktor Petrov is based on processing the funds of the main historical museum of Ukraine (now the National Museum of History of Ukraine): archival file No. 150 “Kyivan Rus, Knyazha Hora, Raiky, Stepan Drozdov’s collection” [The Central Historical Museum was the name of the mentioned museum from 1935 to 1941. However, even after the Second World War, Petrov may have continued to refer to the museum this way, although it underwent several name changes]. Another part of the materials (archival file No. 151) – drawings on tracing paper – were copied by Petrov from documents of the Historical Archive of Kyiv (now the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine). Both archival files are now unique thematic complexes of documents and visual sources. Their ‘re-discovery’ without referring to the Petrov’s fund would have taken years.

A significant portion of Petrov’s archive consists of working notes from the historiography of the 19th and the first third of the 20th centuries (articles of Dmytro Mileev, Józef Hojnowski, Khvedir Vovk, Maxim Berlinskyi, Mykola Ogloblin, Mykola Bilyashivskyi, Pyotr Lebedintsev, Serhiy Veliky, Vasyl Lyaskoronskyi, Volodymyr Antonovych, Yakov Voloshynskyi, and other archaeologists, historians, and researchers of antiquities).

The history of Kyiv in general, as well as sources of special historical disciplines, were among the topics that particularly interested Viktor Petrov. Among them were archaeological finds: jewelry, coins, seals, weapons, crosses, burials, and buildings. Petrov paid a lot of attention to the topography and archaeological map of Kyiv (archival files No. 161, 163, 169, 170, 173). He was also particularly interested in the development of Old Kyiv or the Upper City (today its boundaries lie within Andrew’s Church, Volodymyr Hill, Golden Gates, Lviv Square, and Maidan Nezalezhnosti): archival files No. 156 (Archaeological excavations of the Grand Duke’s Court) and No. 158 (The estate of the Church of the Tithes). The researcher also focused on historical districts such as Batyieva Hora, Zvirynets, Kytaievo, and Shchekavytsia (archival file No. 157).

Viktor Petrov preserved a unique source among his working documents: “Report on archaeological excavations in Kyiv by Ilya Samoilovsky [1881-1972], 1936” (archival file No. 167). This typewritten report spans three sheets. It was signed by Samoilovsky and created in Kyiv in his apartment on December 5, 1936. This prominent Ukrainian archaeologist and researcher of archaeological monuments in the Pereyaslav Region first settled in Kyiv in the 1920s. He worked at the main historical museum and the Academy of Sciences. Samoilovsky permanently moved to Kyiv in 1933. Together with a representative of the historical museum, he conducted archaeological excavations at Borysoglibska Street, No. 13, in the fall and winter of 1936, where a burial site with Slavic ceramics of the 11th-12th centuries was discovered during construction.

Unique visual sources are located in archival file No. 152 (Kyivan Rus. Illustrations from the Radzyviliv Chronicle [or Königsberg Chronicle, a medieval manuscript containing chronicle text and 613 miniatures]. Excavations in Kyiv and the village of Raiky). Newsreel footage of archaeological excavations in Raiky village in Zhytomyr Oblast, 1930: URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_uF_62i9u8

The attribution and authorship of the photographs taken during excavations of the Church of the Tithes (Kyiv) and in Raiky village is debatable and requires input from several specialists. However, these photographs capture the discovery of important historical strata, as well as the process of archaeological excavations in the soviet state. The digging and movement of soil and stones during the archaeological excavations of the Church of the Tithes were conducted by women laborers. The only man present in the photos was observing the work.

Petrov’s “Kyiv studies” also include a unique archival finding of another document signed by Academician Ivan Krypyakevich (1886-1967; Lviv) in archival file No. 4. The Ukrainian historian was a member of the Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society, a professor at Ivan Franko Lviv State University (according to its modern name), and director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian ssr. “History of Ukraine” is one of Krypyakevich’s most famous works. The textbook was first published in Vienna in 1918 “in the second year of the reconstruction of the Ukrainian state” and began with the phrase: “Our native land is called Ukraine.”

The letter to Petrov was sent from Krypyakevich’s apartment in Lviv on June 22, 1962. Krypyakevich recalled some conversations with Petrov from 1940-1941 and expressed his regret that the writing of a volume about Kyivan Rus for a multi-volume publication on the history of Ukraine “has hung in the air.” He expected to continue this work on his own but felt the need for advice from archaeologists. Thus, Krypyakevich, one of the few experts in the history of Ukrainian ancient statehood at that time, sought from Petrov “closer explanations to some questions” based on Petrov’s archaeological study “About the beginnings of Kyiv.” The letter was written in the historian’s apartment and is a typescript with handwritten corrections by Krypyakevich and his signature.

“The Krypyakevich family lived in different apartments in Lviv. For a certain period, they resided on Shevchenko Street. The house where Krypyakevich, his family, and his brother lived was located on Domogalichi Street. From that house, the brothers went to gymnasium as young men. However, after a bomb destroyed Ivan and Lev’s apartment, they moved to Ostrozki Street. Many Ukrainian families lived on this street, and the Krypyakevich family lived there the longest.”

Petrov replied to Krypyakevich in detail a week later, on June 30, 1962.

Viktor Petrov is the author of two published thematic studies:
– Про першопочатки Києва (до 1100-річчя першої літописної згадки про Київ) // Український історичний журнал. 1962. № 3. С. 14-21; / Віктор Петров. Розвідки. Том 3. Київ: Темпора, 2013. С. 1257-1266 (передрук).
– Історична топографія міста: Першопочатки міста // Історичні джерела та їх використання. 1964. Вип. 1. С. 114-140; Віктор Петров. Розвідки. Том 3. Київ: Темпора, 2013. С. 1302-1326 (передрук).

References:

Tamara Kutsaieva